What Did You Think of the Eagles?

The Eagles had their first preseason game Thursday night against the Patriots, and in one unfortunate respect, it looked like a game from last year.

On the bright side, the offense looked pretty sharp, including both the contenders for starting quarterback. I was disappointed they hung onto Michael Vick this year, for lots of reasons, but he seems to have the inside track on starting. They have a bunch of good running backs and if the offensive line can stay healthy, it will be one of the best in the league. I thought the special teams looked better, too.

The problem is that the defense looked awful, with lots of bad tackling and confusion. My sense was that the Patriots could have scored 100 points if Tom Brady had stayed in there.

I read this morning that new cornerback Cary Williams thinks they're too soft and should have let the Eagles' players fight the Patriots during their scrimmages leading up to the game. Considering that he sat the game out with a hamstring injury and has had to sit out several practices for the same reason, I'm inclined to think he should shut up until he's really contributing, but I certainly do long for the days when the Eagles had a defense that opponents feared.

For that reason, I had hoped they would opt for a defensive-minded head coach and focus on the defense in the draft. Instead they chose offensive wizard Kelly and took offensive players with their top two picks.

That, and what I saw Thursday, suggests to me that we're at least a year away from respectability on defense. That's going to make it tough to finish any better than 8-8 this season, and even that looks like a stretch.

What did you think of what you saw? What's your prediction for this year's record?

Current Comments

I think they should start tackling in practice! Saving hard hitting for games is not going to work. 7-9 looks reasonable to me.

Posted By: John Waldron | Aug 12, 2013 2:09:45 PM

I agree that this no-tackling-in-practice thing seems like a bad idea, particularly for a team that couldn't tackle anybody last year.

Posted By: Bill White | Aug 12, 2013 2:21:55 PM

They did what was expected of them. They lost.
They performed as expected. They stunk. What else do we need to know.

Posted By: David | Aug 12, 2013 3:06:43 PM

I feel the defense is still trying to find their way scheming with the 3-4 and 4-3 fronts. Hopefully that comes together sooner than later. It's preseason so I am not getting worker up. BUT, one should know how to tackle at this level. I do feel there were some positives to the game. Curry looked great, the offense was crisp for the most part, and improved special teams. I could care less if they lose the game. Player evaluation against real game time speed is what the preseason is all about. I will go with 6-10 or better. No confidence in the D.

Posted By: Larry | Aug 13, 2013 11:30:45 AM

I agree about winning-losing not being important in the preseason. I do hope to see some progress defensively, though, and that game looked like more of the same from last year. You're right that we should be patient with a new system.